Three hundred and one projects from across the globe have been shortlisted for this year’s World Architecture Festival Awards.

Affiliated with the World Architecture Festival, the international awards program is the largest of its kind. Now in its fifth year, the 2012 iteration of the festival will be held in Asia for the first time – shifting location from Barcelona to Singapore.

Organisers said this new focus on Asia has attracted a rise in the number of entries received from Asia, with an increase in entries from Australia and Singapore, as well as India, Japan and China. In all, this year’s program attracted 500 entries from almost 50 countries.

WAF program director, Paul Finch, commented: “We were not only impressed by high levels of flair, creativity and innovation in the entries, but also encouraged that our new venue in Singapore has led to an increase in Asian and Oceanic entries.”

Billard Leece Partnership and Bates Smart, Royal Children's Hospital. Photo by John Gollings

Twenty-six Australian practices have had projects shortlisted across 21 categories, with several firms shortlisted multiple times. Australian projects proved particularly strong in the Health category, with four out of five shortlisted projects from within Australia: BVN Architecture’s Robina Hospital Expansion, Woodhead’s Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer, Woods Bagot’s St Vincent’s Private Hospital Young Adults Mental Health Unit, and The Royal Children’s Hospital by Billard Leece Partnership and Bates Smart.

Local projects also proved strong in the Houses category, with seven of the 18 shortlisted residences completed by Australian firms. Among these are five Victorian projects (McBride Charles Ryan’s Cloud House, Andrew Maynard Architects’ Hill House, Jackson Clements Burrows’ Harold Street Residence, dKO Architecture’s Separation Street and John Wardle Architects’ Fairhaven Beach House), one Sydney project (Seacliff House by Chris Elliott Architects) and one Perth project (Brisbane Street Additions by rad architecture). Four Singaporean projects are also in contention for this award.

Kerry Hill Architects, State Theatre Centre WA. Photo by Robert Frith

Four Australian projects are among the 16 contenders in the Culture category, including two museums – MONA in Hobart, by Fender Katsalidis, and the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum in Queensland by Cox Rayner Architects – in addition to Kerry Hill Architects’ State Theatre Centre of Western Australia and FJMT’s The Concourse in Sydney.

See the full list of Australian projects shortlisted in the 2012 WAF Awards below.

CULTURE
Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, Cox Rayner Architects
Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Fender Katsalidis
State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, Kerry Hill Architects
The Concourse, FJMT